5/26/2010 @ 6:00PM

The Best Mobile TVs

Summertime is almost here and the great outdoors are calling, but your inner sports fan and couch potato are begging to stay glued to the TV. Thankfully, there’s an easy compromise that lets you watch the day game while you’re soaking up the sun: Take the TV with you.

DVRs, on-demand channels and downloads make it easier than ever to keep up with TV series, so portable TVs circa 2010 are really only a necessary purchase for sports fans. The thrill is gone when you’ve already seen the score, after all. Portable TVs are a lot slicker these days than the old brick-sized monstrosities with two-inch, black-and-white CRT screens, and there are options to fit every budget and backpack.

What’s Old Is New

The budget-minded option for getting live TV on the go is an updated version of that classic portable TV, like the Axion AXN-8701, Haier HLT71, or Viore PLC7V96. These sets are all high-resolution, seven-inch LCD flatscreens (slightly smaller than
Apple
‘s iPad, for reference), small enough to stick in a purse or backpack and bring to a picnic or for a stroll in the park. They each use a digital tuner and antenna to pick up the same regional over-the-air channels you’d get on your TV at home, so you’ll get whatever is in range–which may or may not be a good thing depending on your area.

As the cheap solution for mobile TV, these sets have some big flaws. The Haier model claims the longest battery life of the trio: 2.5 hours, which is too little to last through a baseball game. LCD screens are also notoriously difficult to view in direct sunlight. And then there’s the fact that most sports events aren’t broadcast on over-the-air channels anymore. But if you absolutely have to have a TV on the go, it’s a worthy and affordable option.

Vizio also has plans to release two handheld LED-backlit sets this summer. These Razor LEDs will be available in seven- and nine-inch models. Expect better performance than from the bargain-brand competitors, and a higher price tag to match.

TV On Your Phone

Live TV has been available on mobile phones for a few years, but still seems to be overlooked as a portable TV solution. If you already have a smartphone and a data plan, a phone-based TV service is a great way to stay connected to live sports coverage on the go. These services typically offer several cable channels, including ESPN, so you’ll be able to catch more games from anywhere you can get a reliable 3G data connection.

Most carriers offer some kind of proprietary mobile TV service, but the third-party Mobi TV is the most robust. This service is available through every major carrier and, depending on which carrier you use, can offer more than 40 channels. You will need an unlimited data plan to support all that streaming video, but if you already pay for a data plan, $9.99 monthly subscription is a small price for the plethora of live and on-demand channels. Check with your carrier to see if Mobi TV is supported on your phone, and which channels are available. Mobi TV also comes as an iPhone app. A demo version of Mobi TV for
Google’s
Android was released in March, but no full version has been released.

Go With Flo

If you don’t have a smartphone or don’t want to pay for a data plan, you still could be in luck. Check out Flo TV, a subscription-based mobile TV service that plays on the Flo TV Personal TV. It’s a 3.5-inch, touchscreen gadget with a five-hour battery life that receives 16 channels, including ESPN, Comedy Central, Adult Swim, CNN and the big four broadcast networks. Some of these channels are live simulcasts of what you’d see in your living room from your cable box, but most are “mobile” versions of the respective channels with time-shifted content. Of course, time-sensitive events (like sports) are live broadcasts, so you won’t miss anything.

Flo TV Personal Television costs $200 and comes with a six-month subscription to the Flo TV service, which will run you $15 per month thereafter. The subscription rate seems reasonable, and reviews indicate that the picture quality is quite good. It’s pretty much a worthless gadget without that subscription or outside coverage zones in and around medium- to large-sized cities. It also can’t pick up regional channels, so the sports events have to be on national broadcast. Basically, Personal Television is a niche product that seems to be aimed at a relatively small group of users–rabid sports fans without a cellphone data plan–but that group should find plenty to like here.

Basically, the true TV experience can only be had in front of a TV with a cable or satellite subscription. But when you need to get outside and soak up some rays (and you really should do that), the options above should keep your TV cravings in check.